The first thing for the novice to do is to get advice. The difficulty
will not be in the getting but in the selection afterwards. The majority
of experienced shooters will not bother the novice with their views, but
will advise him to go to the best gun-maker he can afford to employ and
take his advice; but this amounts also to taking his guns, and it may be
that a novice can do much better than that. The majority of shooters
when they know what they want can possibly afford best guns from best
makers, and perhaps have enough sport to justify the 180 guineas that a
pair will cost. But all shooters at the beginning cannot afford to find
out their requirements upon anything of the sort; this is proved by the
much greater number of second and third grade than of best guns made and
sold every year.
Besides, the majority of gun-shops are stocked heavily with second-hand
and second-quality guns, that can be bought from £15 to £25 each, and
the most difficult second-hand guns to find in London are those of the
best makers, who only turn out one quality, namely the best, which are
worth more.
It would be an invidious selection to name the best gun-makers, and
impossible besides, for their products are the offspring of the brain,
eye, and hand of the cleverest workmen,—sometimes, but rarely, their
nominal makers,—and these craftsmen are human: they change, and even
die. That is the reason that the best guns of one season do not always
come from the same shops as the best of another. But not one amateur
expert in a hundred, and not one shooter in ten thousand, will be able
to detect the difference by external examination. It is there, and is
important; and some day the gun that has not passed a master in the
prime of critical observation will have an accident and break down, just
at the wrong moment probably; whereas the best work of a best gun-maker
will wear out its barrels, and then another pair, before anything goes
wrong with its works, and before its splendid fitting and superior metal
allow the barrels and the action to suggest divorce proceedings, by
gaping in each other’s presence.
But if one cannot name the best makers and continue to live, it is
possible to get over the difficulty by suggesting that most gun-makers
have price lists of second-hand guns in their possession, and from these
lists the status of the various gun-makers in the country can be
gathered. But even this is not quite a reliable method, for those makers
who turn out second and third quality guns may be represented by their
best, or their worst, in these lists, whereas the men who have only one
sort can only be represented by the best.
Then, again, the fashion changes, and guns which a few years ago were
best and latest fashion are soon out-dated, and then they rank in price
with second or third quality guns that are made in the latest fashion.
Thus a hammerless gun is not now fashionable; it must be hammerless
ejector, and for choice with a single trigger. Then hammer guns of the
best make can be bought for a sixth of their original cost, just as
muzzle-loaders are totally unsaleable except in the Colonies.
Instead, therefore, of giving 180 guineas for a pair of hammerless
ejectors by a best maker, the novice may for about a third of the sum
procure a pair in every way as good by the same maker, if he foregoes
the ejector part of the latest fashion. But, in order to make sure of
fair treatment, dealing only with the most reputable establishments is
advised, because it has been known that the less particular traders have
themselves altered an old-fashioned gun into an ejector, and sold it as
the gun of a first-rate maker, whereas it would have been more properly
described as their own work. However, there is always a check on this
kind of thing, because every gun is numbered by those makers whose
weapons are worth having, and a letter to the maker, giving the number
and description of the gun, will probably be the cause of detection of
any fraud of this kind.
In order satisfactorily to buy second-hand guns, a shooter should know
exactly what bend, length of stock, and cast on or off he takes, and
should also be able to measure these dimensions for himself; for it is
not wise to have a second-hand gun altered to fit, not even if it is
done by its own maker.
The best way is not to throw up a gun in the shop and buy it by the
feel. There it may feel to fit when it does not do so; and it is
possible to discard as ill-fitting the very gun that is exactly right.
It is only out of doors at moving objects that most people handle a gun
as they do at game. Consequently it is cheap in the end to go to a
shooting school and be measured for a gun. There the beginner will be
tested in every way and for every class of shot and angle of aim. It is
not intended to suggest that shooting schools do not make mistakes, for
they do. But the wise man will not be satisfied until he has been able
to handle the try gun in a satisfactory manner when bent to his proposed
measure. That is to say, the schoolmaster and the pupil have got to
agree before either are likely to be right, and if the pupil cannot
agree with one master he can try another.
The author knows one fine performer who placed himself in the hands of
two experts in close succession. The stock measurement of one was
cast-on, and a good deal of it; that of the other was cast-off, and also
much of it. He had guns built to each. Naturally one might say they were
both wrong, but as a matter of extraordinary fact they were both right;
for this fine shooter performs equally well with both guns, and would
probably do so with any other weapon. Of course he is the exception, and
it would be unwise for others to attempt to shoot alternately with two
guns as different as these are, because the practice with one would be
unlearning for the other.
The object of taking much trouble to get a true measure, in writing, is
that the testing of many guns, by putting them to the shoulder, alters a
shooter’s method of doing this; and although the change may be only
slight and temporary, it is enough to prevent an accurate selection in a
gun-shop. The written measure reduces the number of guns to be tried, or
handled, by 90 per cent., which greatly assists the process of
selection, not only in the way named above, but by allowing more time
for a thorough trial of each.
If a young shooter is going to shoot in parties, and not by himself, the
bore of his gun is practically settled for him. It must be 12 bore,
because otherwise he can be no help to other shooters in the lending of
cartridges, nor they to him. This is very important, and becomes more so
in exact degree as bags increase. The ammunition cart cannot be
everywhere at once, and the work to be done by a host’s servants should
never be unnecessarily added to when they are most busy.
On the other hand, it is quite permissible to take a 20 bore on to the
moors to shoot over dogs in early August. Some people think that a 20
bore shoots closer than a 12 gauge, but that is a mistake. It spreads
its shot quite as much as the larger bore, but it has fewer shot, and
consequently the pattern is thinner. Few people have either kind bored
to shoot as closely as possible, but when each is so bored the 12 gauge
will always be the more powerful, unless heavy 20 bores are built to
shoot 12 gauge loads.
This does not imply that a shooter will always get the most out of a 12
bore.
Lightness of weight assists walking, and also quickness in shooting, so
that it is possible in some hands for the worst gun to do the most work.
It is the fashion to use a pretty heavy gun for driving; the greater the
head of game there is, the more certainly does one require a gun to kick
but little; and there is no cure for kick except weight. For shooting
over dogs the weight is generally a greater objection than recoil,
because the number of shots fired will not be likely to be so many as to
make a heavy recoil unbearable by too frequent repetition. Still, for
the sake of a slight difference of weight, it is not usually necessary
to have different guns for driving and for shooting over dogs. There is
a mistaken idea that only a heavy gun will shoot a heavy charge well,
but this is not so. Some years ago there were a good many 4¾ lb. 12
gauge guns built to shoot full 12 bore charges. Some of them shot as
well as 7 lb. guns, but there are good and bad of all weights and
gauges.
It is by no means urged that a 12 bore for walking up partridges and
shooting grouse over dogs should be as light as those “feather-weights”
were, because recoil was unpleasant from them, even if only a few shots
were fired. The contention is merely that a light 12 bore will kill as
well as a heavy one, provided it carries the same charge and load, and
its barrels are as long as the heavy gun’s tubes. The only possible
difference will be caused by the greater jump of the light gun, and this
jump may in _some_ light weapons uncentre the pattern. That is not a
subject to speculate about, but is one for trial.
But it is not only light guns that sometimes do not shoot true. No
double rifles can by measurement ever be put together so that both
barrels shoot to the same place. This is accomplished by trial and
regulating. It is done by wedging the muzzles farther apart or bringing
them nearer together as the case may require. In the making of shot guns
measurement is supposed to be enough; but a large percentage of guns do
not centre their loads on the spot aimed at, and the two barrels
frequently shoot to a different centre. Possibly choke bores are most
liable to this fault; at any rate, they are much more easily detected,
because their patterns are smaller than those of cylinders, and a
variation from centre is more easily noticed.
When this inaccuracy occurs, people may say that the shooter is in fault
and not the gun. Gunners are satisfied with such statements, although
they would reject a rifle that shot with a quarter of the inaccuracy.
A gun-maker’s business is to show true shooting, and to keep a gun
tester to do this work, and to show that all guns sold shoot true and
well, and that all rifles can make small groups. Naturally the young
shooter will believe himself to be in fault when he sees these men make
central shots time after time with a gun or rifle that will not do it in
novice hands. But some of these experts discover at the first shot where
a barrel throws, and make the necessary allowance for it in each
succeeding shot.
In order to be able to do this, a man must have wonderful confidence in
himself; but some experts are well able to shoot one shot only from each
barrel of a rifle, and then regulate it with no more evidence. Others
are obliged to make a group with each barrel in order to negative their
own faults of aim, or “let off.” That will possibly be the young
shooter’s form; and if it is unfortunately so, all the same he is the
man who is going to use the weapon, not the gun-maker’s expert, and
consequently his own test is the best for him, _no matter how blundering
it may be_.
There is no wisdom in being satisfied or put off with anything less than
perfect central shots of the shot gun. The relative position of the shot
centre in regard to a small bull’s eye is not easy to put into figures,
but it can be grasped by the mind at a glance. The author has seen some
close-shooting shot guns that only put the edge of the 30 inch circle of
shot on to the bull’s eye. This represents an inaccuracy of 15 inches,
and is very bad indeed, but 3 inches of inaccuracy is more than equally
bad, because it ought not to exist; it is the worse because it is so
difficult to find out. At the best there is only a 15 inch limit of
inaccuracy of aim in a 30 inch pattern at going-away game. That is small
enough for most people who shoot swerving partridges, twisting snipe,
and rising grouse. Three inches of inaccuracy of gun reduces the man’s
limit of inaccuracy to 12 inches. Is it enough? The author believes that
most guns are out double as much as this 3 inches at 40 yards, and that
the reason is that they are not usually treated to the same process of
regulation spoken of for double rifles.
Were it not that the shot strings out into a long column with as much as
30 feet between the first and the last pellet at 40 to 50 yards range,
it would be barely possible to kill at all when the pace of the game
makes great allowances in front necessary.
This may be said: that 3 inches of inaccuracy is not much when many feet
have to be judged, and that is perfectly true, and if the gun’s 3 inches
of inaccuracy were always in the same direction as the game is
going—that is, 3 inches too forward or too backward—there would be
nothing in it to trouble about; but it is just as likely to be an error
at right angles with the line of flight of the game, and then it does
matter very much indeed. Even if a miss does not result, but if the aim
is true, the game will then be made to fly through the thin part of the
circumference of the shot column. For instance, if game is coming
directly over the shooter, and a gun inaccuracy of 3 inches makes him
shoot to right or left of the line of flight, that error is increased by
his own inaccuracy or the “curl” of the game, which together may easily
accomplish the other 12 inches, and then the game would be outside of
the column of shot of a choke bore at 40 yards. A full choke has not a
killing circle for straight going-away game of more than 26 or 28 inch
diameter at that distance. On the contrary, a true cylinder has a
killing circle of 40 inches.
This appears at first glance to be a very great advantage to the
cylinder user, but in practice there is not much in it, provided the
choke bore shoots truly to centre. If it does not, it is absolutely
worthless, whereas the cylinder, with an equal fault, is a bad gun but
not worthless. The reason of this is that the cylinder spreads more than
the choke. The “full choke” always clusters its shot in the centre, and
although the aim of gun-makers may be to get an even pattern, it cannot
be done with a full choke gun, and would not suit everybody if it were
done.
The author is inclined to think that a cylinder, or modified choke bore,
is better than a full choke for any distance or purpose for which a full
choke bore, with an even distribution of pellets, is better than another
with a central clustering of pattern. Possibly pigeon shooting is an
exception; because there is no use in killing outside the boundary, so
that very long shots are not much wanted, and quick, hard shooting and
an even, large pattern are required. But with game, accuracy of aim is
preferable to extreme quickness, if either has to be sacrificed to any
great extent. You go out to shoot to please yourself, and nothing will
accomplish that pleasure so certainly as constantly killing game at
distances that other people cannot reach. Tall pheasants and high wild
duck try a gun as well as a gunner, and if the latter can keep in the
line of flight he can shoot at some angles and at slow birds twice as
strong with a choke as with a cylinder, but the timing of the shot is
not as easy for one as for the other.
The shot spreads laterally nearly half as much again for the cylinder,
but if you can keep your gun in the direction of the line of flight,
that extra lateral spread will only help you for fast birds crossing at
right angles. This is the least difficult thing to be done in killing
driven game. The most difficult is accurately timing the shot, and here
the gunner has the advantage of the longitudinal spread of the shot; in
other words, a column of pellets some 30 feet long, at 40 or 50 yards,
is sent in front of the game, which has to fly through the column as the
latter passes the line of flight. The cylinder has slightly the longer
column, and the column is slightly thicker through.
Correct timing implies that no part of the column of shot passes the
bird before his head is in it, or after his legs are out of it. But this
absolute accuracy of measuring the allowance in front, as well as timing
the “let off,” must be very unusual.
It may be said that it is not easy to keep the gun in the direction of
the line of flight, but the author cannot agree to that, except when the
game swerves after the “let off.” If it does that, a spread of shot the
size of a barn door would probably miss it, and the one-third bigger
lateral spread of the cylinder than of the choke bore will not assist
once in a hundred times.
These views, although not perhaps expressed, are largely acted upon in
practice. Soon after choke-bore guns came in they became very
unfashionable for game shooting, and the author was himself dreadfully
unfortunate, for his form dropped 50 per cent. But the reason was that
his first choke bores were not central shooters, and it was then very
difficult to get guns of that boring that were true. That it was no
fault of choke bores as such, the author proved by having his guns
rebored, and although they afterwards shot even closer than before, they
killed in the new condition.
One fault which is very bad in choke bores, and counts against shooting
straight-going and straight-coming game well, far more than with
cylinders, is that of patches without any shot in them in the outer edge
of the circle. What is meant here is not a misdirection of the load but
an erratic spread of it. In a close-shooting weapon this fault is almost
as bad as a misdirection, but differs in this, that the patch varies its
position with each shot. These patches sometimes extend from the outer
edge to very nearly the centre of the pattern, and consistent shooting
when they occur is impossible. They are not chance happenings, and can
be obviated by good boring and good loading. The author thinks they most
often occur when the shot can be shaken in the cartridge, and it may be
that a size of pellets which do not lie evenly on the outer circle on
the wad assist in deforming the pattern.
But theory is of no use, and it is the gun-maker’s business to sell a
gun that he can show has none of these faults. Whether he overcomes them
by a change in size of shot, quantity of them, or in an alteration of
brand of powder, matters nothing to the shooter, and is not his affair.
Enough has been said when the gun-buyer is placed in a position that it
took the author many years to arrive at in regard to the choke bore,
namely, that everything on the plate that is bad is not the fault of the
shooter, but of the gun-maker.
There is another advantage of the choke bore. It shoots No. 5 shot at 50
yards as hard as No. 6 is shot by a cylinder at 40 yards, and the
pattern will be quite equal at 50 yards with the large shot to that of
the cylinder’s small shot at 40 yards.
This is very important in shooting at straight coming or going grouse.
The farther off the first bird can be taken, the more certainly will the
others be killed. No. 6 shot has enormous energy when the speed of a
quick advancing bird is added to the speed of the shot. If it gets in
the bird, it will go a long way through him; but when grouse are coming
low, and dead straight to the gun, they glance the small shot like a
shower of hail upon a duck’s back. Consequently more heavy shot will get
in, although fewer will hit.
The kind of gun to be bought can hardly be determined until the shooter
has settled what size of pellets he wants to use at various game.
Messrs. Kynoch sell more than twice as many No. 5 shot as any other
size. No. 6 comes next, and Nos. 7 and 5½ are nowhere.
With a cylinder gun only placing 100 pellets of No. 6 shot in the 30
inch circle at 40 yards, one could not expect great work from No. 5
pellets on birds as small as partridges walked up. The pattern would be
too open at 40 yards, and the penetration unnecessarily high at 25
yards.
Some, at least, of No. 6 shot has penetration for a slow partridge
flying dead away at 40 yards. With a very quick driven bird shot at
behind, it has not more than enough penetration beyond 30 yards. The
pace of the retreating game reduces the energy of the impact, but there
is very little glancing off the feathers when they are struck from
behind. The author is inclined to say that in shooting coming game all
glancing is away from the game, and from behind all glancing from
feathers is into the bird. He has himself heard the clatter of the shot
on a straight-coming duck at about 30 yards when no damage whatever was
done. At a low skimming partridge coming straight for an open gateway in
which the writer was standing, he has shot, as at a sitting mark, for
there was neither swerve nor rise or fall; he has seen the earth kick up
all round the bird at about 25 yards, and has not been any nearer
bagging the game. Surely nothing but glancing shot can account for such
escapes.
[Illustration:
WARTER PRIORY. LORD SAVILE SHOOTING
]
┌──────┬─────┬──────┬───────────┬──────────┬──────┬────────┬────────┬──────┐
│1906. │ No. │ Name │Partridges.│Pheasants.│Hares.│Rabbits.│Various.│Total.│
│ │ of │ of │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │Guns.│Beat. │ │ │ │ │ │ │
├──────┼─────┼──────┼───────────┼──────────┼──────┼────────┼────────┼──────┤
│Dec. 4│ 8 │Blanch│ 91│ 657│ 574│ 139│ 2│ 1,463│
│ │ │Whin │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│Dec. 5│ 9 │Gold’n│ 15│ 3,824│ 526│ 92│ 3│ 4,460│
│ │ │Vall’y│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│Dec. 6│ 9 │High │ 11│ 3,037│ 182│ 42│ 2│ 3,274│
│ │ │Cliff │ │ │ │ │ │ │
├──────┼─────┼──────┼───────────┼──────────┼──────┼────────┼────────┼──────┤
│ │ │ │ 117│ 7,518│ 1,282│ 273│ 7│ 9,197│
└──────┴─────┴──────┴───────────┴──────────┴──────┴────────┴────────┴──────┘
A bird partly crossing can be killed farther away, but a partridge
coming dead on, in spite of the increase of impact caused by its speed,
is far out for a cylinder and No. 6 shot at 30 yards, but with a choke
bore and No. 5 shot it is well within range at 40 yards. Then a fast
going-away driven bird is 10 yards nearer than it looks if you have No.
5 pellets in the gun, and a good deal farther off than it looks if you
have No. 6.
So far only the actual bringing down of game has been considered, but
there is the question of ethics too. With all shot there is some
distance at which a body shot ceases to be effective, and when killing
must depend on hitting a vital exposed part, or the wing. As the body is
more than twice as big as these exposed vitals, namely the head and
neck, it follows that the body will be hit twice as often as these vital
parts. Beyond the distance at which body shots will kill, it follows
that the shooter wounds twice for every head he bags. Consequently there
is a wounding distance for each kind of shot pellet for straight going
and coming game.
This wounding distance, for No. 6 shot, the author would be inclined to
place at all ranges beyond 30 yards and up to 100 yards; for No. 5 shot,
all distances beyond 40 yards and up to 120 yards. But as most people do
not shoot at game beyond 50 yards, for practical purposes the wounding
distance is from 30 to 50 yards with No. 6, and from 40 to 50 yards with
No. 5 shot. Full-feathered partridges are the birds alluded to. August
grouse can be killed farther away with much more certainty.
In all the public London trials of guns the patterns of cylinders have
not averaged as high as 100 pellets of No. 6 in the 30 inch circle at 40
yards range. With 1¼ oz. of No. 6, of 270 pellets to the ounce, about
250 pellets in the same circle have been frequently obtained at the same
40 yards range from choke bores. But the majority of guns sold as
cylinders now will put as many as 120 pellets in the circle, and the
author has seen one of Holland’s put 160 pellets in that circle. In this
gun there was no noticeable choke bore when a barrel gauge was used at
all distances within 8 inches of the muzzle. The author did not attempt
further to learn how this barrel was bored, and it would not be fair to
expose it if he knew, which is not the case. But now that the principle
of boring is well understood, there appear to be several methods by
which a similar result would be possible. The barrels are known to
stretch very considerably under the pressure of the powder-gas, and
consequently any treatment of the barrels at the muzzles that would
prevent them stretching with the rest of the barrel would act, more or
less, like a modified choke. This might be done perhaps by an external
thickening of the barrel, or by a hardening of the metal just at the
right spot.
However, to prefer a cylinder that gives a high pattern to a modified
choke bore that does the same, is only a fad. The former is difficult to
obtain, and the latter is everywhere; and it is not the modified choke
that so often is made to shoot untrue to centre, but the full choke.
The disadvantage of the choke-bore pattern is that it may plaster the
game at distances nearer than the cylinder does. To compare the two
patterns made at 20 yards, it is difficult to believe that the choke is
almost as free from plastering as the cylinder. As a matter of fact
there are several reasons for the well-known surprise that it does not
often plaster feathered game.
The birds are not often coming straight at the gun nor going quite
straight away from it, and any tendency to cross the line of aim is
equivalent to allowing the game some benefit for any slight inaccuracy
of timing the shot, and any wrong allowance in front. For instance,
perhaps 5 inches too much allowance in front, with otherwise correct
timing, at 20 yards, might very well allow half the shot column to go
past a slow bird before he flew into the remainder of the shot column,
which would be equivalent to shooting at a motionless bird with only
half the pattern.
On the other hand, a very fast bird may fly right through the shot
column before more than half of it has passed his line of flight. When
the bird is caught by the centre of the head of the column at 20 yards
range, he has but 10 inches to fly to get out of the line of flight of
the shot from a full choke bore. The last pellets in the load will not
be travelling more than 700 feet per second, and fast game is often
going at 100 feet per second and more, although newly started game in
still air may not often exceed 60 feet per second. But probably the real
reason why good shots especially do not plaster their game at near
distances is that they always shoot well in front, with a view to
hitting only in the head and neck. At short range the slowest pellets
are quite equal to killing whenever they hit straight for a vital part,
exposed or otherwise. A shot aimed well forward with the intention of
almost missing, by premature arrival of the pellets on the line of the
bird’s flight, is almost sure to result in the cleanest kind of kill,
brought about by two or three shot pellets in the head and neck and none
anywhere else.
This also is often accomplished even at long distances, but not in the
same way. Then the shot that succeeds must be well timed to get the
bird’s body into the thickest of the pellets, and one of the reasons why
the body is not plastered is that from most angles of impact, on a
coming bird, the body shots glance off, and only the head, neck, and
wing shots tell. The only great chance of smashing winged game that
occurs is in near shots at going-away game, and then, whether a man
holds a cylinder or a choke bore, he will assuredly give lots of “law,”
even if, in doing so, the game passes out of sight.
There is an idea that the killing circle from a gun can be mapped out by
geometric progression. That is to say, that if lines are drawn from the
muzzle to the extremity of a 40 inch circle at 40 yards, you will be
able to measure off, or calculate, the killing circle for straight-away
game at any distance. That is not so. At the nearer distances the size
of the killing circle is regulated by the pellets that, at 40 yards, are
outside of it altogether. There they are too thinly scattered to count
for chances. Thus the killing circle of a cylinder and of a full choke
have no relationship to each other, or to geometric progression of the
spread of pellets for each distance.
The author has measured many patterns at different distances, and he
believes that the following table shows very truly the diameters of the
killing circles covered, on the basis of that pattern which was regarded
as thick enough to kill game in the cylinder days. That is to say, the
latter sort of gun was tried at 40 yards where it spread fairly evenly
over a 40 inch circle. But its proper distance was 30 yards, and at that
range nothing else at any other distance gives the shooter an equal
chance with No. 6 shot.
FOR STILL, OR STRAIGHT AWAY, OR STRAIGHT COMING GAME. THE SIZE OF THE
KILLING CIRCLE BASED ON A MINIMUM 100 PELLETS IN A CIRCLE OF 30 INCH
DIAMETER
┌────────────────────────┬────────┬────────┬────────┬────────┬────────┐
│ Description of gun and │ At 20 │ At 30 │ At 40 │ At 50 │ At 60 │
│ size of shot. │ yards. │ yards. │ yards. │ yards. │ yards. │
├────────────────────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┤
│Cylinder and No. 6 shot.│22 in. A│35 in. A│40 in. B│ none │ ... │
├────────────────────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┤
│Even spreading choke │20 in. A│26 in. A│30 in. B│37½ in. │45 in. C│
│ bore and No. 6 shot │ │ │ │ C │ │
├────────────────────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┤
│Centre clustering choke │20 in. A│25 in. A│28 in. B│34 in. C│40 in. C│
│ bore and No. 6 shot │ │ │ │ │ │
├────────────────────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┤
│Cylinder and No. 5 shot │21 in. A│34 in. A│ none │ ... │ │
├────────────────────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┤
│Even spreading choke │19 in. A│25 in. A│30 in. A│37½ in. │ none │
│ bore and No. 5 shot │ │ │ │ B │ │
├────────────────────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┤
│Central clustering choke│19 in. A│24 in. A│27 in. A│35 in. B│ none │
│ bore and No. 5 shot │ │ │ │ │ │
└────────────────────────┴────────┴────────┴────────┴────────┴────────┘
In the above table each circle of shot has been marked with a reference
letter, which is intended to imply—
A, that all pellets will have enough strength to kill if they only hit
the body, and in direct line for a vital.
B, that only the fastest pellets in the load will have enough strength
to kill by body shots, and that at least half the pellets will only have
enough strength to kill if they hit head, neck, or wing.
C, that none of the pellets will kill by body wounds, but only the small
number that chance to hit head, neck, or wing.
The pellets that come under the description applied to C can be greatly
extended beyond the distances named, and at ranges to which it would be
foolish to apply the term “killing circles.” Thus the author has seen a
roe deer killed at 60 yards with No. 6 shot from a 12 bore. Lord
Walsingham has made four consecutive shots with No. 5 shot at wild ducks
at an average range of about 88 yards, or, to be accurate, at 84½ yards,
89 yards, 84 yards, and 114 yards. But these lucky shots in vital spots
do not affect the question, except to show that it is difficult to apply
a limit to the killing power of even weak pellets when they strike head,
neck, or wing. Outside the zone marked A one is certain to do some
wounding without killing the game, but although many pellets will hit
without being straight for vital spots, others will probably kill the
same bird. But in the C zone it is always two or three chances on
wounding to one chance of killing.
The reason for attempting to draw a distinctive line between these zones
for the different guns and loads is that there is far too much
unhealthy, random shooting at game, which gives rise to prolonged agony,
while the sportsman is dining well, and, as he believes, sleeping the
sleep of the just. Even on the baser score of economy and next year’s
sport, it is wise to wound no more game than human blundering compels,
and not to lay ourselves out to wound by attempting to kill when the
chances are so bad that the wild shooter would not risk them upon a
horse-race, much less in a mere commercial speculation.
There has often been controversy on the difference of penetration from a
choke bore and a cylinder. When penetration was taken by recording the
number of sheets of paper, or boards, pierced by one pellet, or even by
three, the choke bore always won. But really this was merely a double
counting of pattern, because when two guns shoot with the same velocity
of shot, that which has the best pattern will also have most pellets
through. That is how it came to be settled by the public London gun
trials that choke bores had materially the most penetration. As a matter
of fact, nobody knows which has most penetration. Sometimes the number
of sheets pierced by half the shot which hit a penetration testing pad
will be in favour of one, and sometimes of the other gun, and moreover
the difference in piercing by the pellets of the same discharge may be
as much as two to one.
Chronographic testing for time over a range has never proved very
satisfactory, for the instrument makes but one record of time for 300
different pellets, which are known to vary in velocity over some ranges
by 300 foot-seconds, and in striking velocity by 200 foot-seconds.
This was brought out by the late Mr. Griffith, who as manager of the
Schultze gunpowder works had great opportunities, and took them.
Powder-makers may very well use the chronograph in testing powders at 10
yards range. At this range Mr. Borland of the E.C. Company informed the
writer that he could never find a difference between small shot and
large pellets; which goes to prove that at the distance they have not
scattered longitudinally enough to make the chronograph the absurdity it
becomes when it records one time for 300, all various.
But once the chronograph was used for small shot on the right principle.
This was when Mr. Griffith applied it to his revolving target
experiments.
┌───────────┬────────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────┐
│Description│ Length of shot column at these │ How the length of │
│of gun and │ ranges in yards as previously │column was obtained.│
│ load. │ accepted. │ │
├───────────┼──────┬──────┬────┬─────┬─────┬─────┼────────────────────┤
│ 〃 │ 10 │ 20 │ 30 │ 40 │ 50 │ 60 │ 〃 │
├───────────┼──────┼──────┼────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼────────────────────┤
│Choke bore │ │ │ │ │ │ │By actual │
│ 12 gauge,│ │ │ │ │ │ │ measurement on the│
│ 49 grains│ │ │ │ │ │ │ Griffith revolving│
│ Schultze,│ 2¼ │4 feet│ 6¾ │ 3¼ │ 4¼ │ 4½ │ targets, assuming │
│ and 1⅛ │ feet │ │feet│yards│yards│yards│ velocity of shot │
│ oz. shot │ │ │ │ │ │ │ to be only 200 │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ f.s.—the same as │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ that of target │
│ 〃 │ │ │ │ │ │ │By multiplying the │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ length of actual │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ measurement as │
│ │ 11 │ 19 │ 27 │ 33 │ 35 │ │ above by the ratio│
│ │ feet │ feet │feet│feet │feet │ │ of shot speed at │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ the end of the │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ range above the │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 200 f.s. of the │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ revolving targets │
├───────────┼──────┼──────┼────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼────────────────────┤
│The same │ │ │ │ │ │ │As in first line │
│ gun and │ │ │ │ │ │ │ above │
│ load, but│ 20 │ 40 │ 6 │ 9 │ 12 │ 4¼ │ │
│ with only│inches│inches│feet│feet │feet │yards│ │
│ 42 grains│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ Schultze │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ powder │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ 〃 │8 feet│ 15 │ 22 │ 28 │ 29 │ ... │As in second line │
│ │ │ feet │feet│feet │feet │ │ above │
├───────────┼──────┼──────┼────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼────────────────────┤
│Cylinder │ │ │ │ │ │ │As in first line │
│ gun 12 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ above │
│ bore, 42 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ grains of│ 2¾ │5 feet│ 7½ │ 4 │ 4½ │ 4¾ │ │
│ Schultze │ feet │ │feet│yards│yards│yards│ │
│ powder, │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ and 1⅛ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ oz. shot │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ 〃 │ 11 │ 22 │ 28 │ 35 │ 30 │ ... │As in second line │
│ │ feet │ feet │feet│feet │feet │ │ above │
└───────────┴──────┴──────┴────┴─────┴─────┴─────┴────────────────────┘
_This table is only inserted because the figures contained in it have
hitherto formed the bases of public knowledge and calculation; it is
corrected and superseded by another on page 44. Its errors consist in no
deduction for the natural spread of the pattern and in the multiple
adopted being based on the striking velocity of the first five per cent.
of pellets._
He did this to discover the longitudinal spread of the shot pellets at
various distances. If ever the chronograph could be used for taking
differing shot velocities, this appears to be the way. But it has never
been repeated, and some results appear to throw doubt upon their own
accuracy. The various lengths of the shot spread on the targets moving
at 200 f.s., at right angles with the line of fire, were as follows upon
the top lines. On the bottom lines in the table the shot pattern spread,
caused by the 200 feet per second, is multiplied by the ratio of greater
speed of shot than the 200 foot-seconds of the revolving target. So that
in the following table the bottom lines, in respect of each gun,
represent something near the true length of shot column at each
distance. The speeds taken in the foregoing table can be gathered from
the Griffith figures on the next page. But if, for the 30 yards range,
the truer mean speed of the shot column is wanted, this is equal to the
striking velocity of the most forward pellets and the velocity of the
rear of the column added together, and divided by two. For this
calculation there is a slight inaccuracy originating in the following
tables, because the striking velocity of the rear pellets has been taken
at the full range, instead of at the length of the shot column less than
the full range. This position can only be found by trial and error. It
will vary the results by a yard or two. Inches have been disregarded in
the tables.
It is often said that we want guns to send their shot up all together,
but if we had so to time our “letting off” as to cause the game to fly
on to a knife edge, with the shot spread out like a tea-tray, it is
doubtful whether we should hit oftener than with a rifle. Lord Wolseley
tells of seeing an officer who by means of a soldier’s rifle killed a
wild goose flying high overhead.
Keeping the line of flight for such a shot would not be difficult, but
the timing and allowance in front could not often be so cleverly
arranged. That is the reason why there is a good deal of doubt whether
we want to decrease the length of shot columns, and besides, if we did
wish it, probably it could not be done. It is observable that the extra
half-dram measure of powder materially increased the choke bore’s
lengths of shot columns. It also had a very great influence in the
increase of velocity at all distances.
The length of the column of shot from the cylinder gun is longer than
the spread from the choke bore, and the longer the range the longer is
the column; but strangely, at long range, according to these trials, one
striking velocity of the first pellets in the load was exactly the same
as that of the last pellets to strike the revolving target, although
mean velocities for the range were very different. This almost shakes
confidence in this chronographic record, but as the penetration tests
always show more variation between pellets than the differences in any
of these revolving target and chronographic records, it may be that the
apparent paradox of pellets getting farther behind but nevertheless
maintaining the same speed as those in front can be explained by a
constant change of leaders, and if so, also of followers necessarily.
These phenomena do not occur except at the extreme distance of 55 yards,
and they are totally absent even at that distance with the choke bore
and 49 grains charge. It seems therefore only to be possible when the
pellets have dropped to a low velocity. At shorter ranges there is
sometimes an impact difference of 200 feet a second between the pellets
of the same load. So that it is material to know the force of the whole
charge, and the time up the range of the leading pellets is no guide, as
differences equal to 320 f.s. have occurred in one load.